Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC.
In this dystopia, girls allegedly have magic when they start menstruating and they are promised in marriage, but must survive a year in the wild to "lose their magic". The girls are incredibly cruel to one another and of course, ignorant of what is really going on. This is Lord of the Flies with girls playing the parts. Interesting concept.

The Grace Year is a story for every girl and every woman who has ever wondered why we tear each other down, why we stab each other in the back, and why it’s so hard to stand together against a world that sometimes wants to break us.

If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would. Another reviewer described The Grace Year described as “A Handmaid’s Tale meets Lord of the Flies with a hint of The Village” which may be the most accurate (and awesome) description of a book to ever exist.

There wasn’t a moment of this book I didn’t love, even the ones that made me ugly cry (and there were a few). Liggett gave us a YA heroine who is smart, strong, defiant, yet still willing to learn and grow. Unlikely friendships forged in fire. A strong, silent rebellion based on hope and faith. Twists and turns that keep you on your toes. And yes, a little romance as well.

There are books that make you feel something, then there are books like this that make you feel everything. Rarely do I ever have the kind of visceral reaction to a book like I did with The Grace Year. It’s the kind of book that stays with you long after you finish, the kind you can pick up again and again and it never loses its potency.

5/5 stars for the anger, the heartbreak, the redemption, and the hope.

I read this book pretty much in one sitting, I need to know what happened next..

Tierney lives in a community where each year, all sixteen year old girls are sent to live in isolation for 13 months so their 'magic' develops and is dissipated. At the end of this they return home to be married or enter a place of work..Any girl who tries to escape is at risk from being killed by Poachers and rendered into miracle cures, the sisters of girls who cannot be accounted for at the end of the year are banished.

We follow Tierney on her Grace Yer which turns out to be Little House on the Prairie meets The Handmaid's Tail meets Mean Girls meets The Revenant meets Lord of the Flies meets Picnic at Hanging Rock meets Battle Royale meets Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

The main character is likable and sympathetic. Over the year we see how her relationship with her parents changes as she realises that all is not what it seems.(just as any daughter gradually realises that her mother is pretty much right about most things).

The relationship between the group of girls is scarily accurate, with the dividing into cliques and head games. There's a lovely moment when Tierney realises that all the time she was climbing trees as a tomboy that she should have made time to cultivate female friendship to be able to weather the transition to adulthood. Obviously her attempts to unite the group and concentrate on survival fail and chaos ensures!

The horror unfolds deliciously and the fear felt by the girls is tangible.

A great read with a strong message.

A big thanks to NetGalley for the ARC I was given of The Grace Year in exchange for a fair and honest review.

You might be wondering: what would a book that blended The Handmaid’s Tale and The Hunger Games look like?

That’s a very simplistic read of Kim Liggett’s beautiful, haunting novel, but the similarities are there. Every year, the girls in Tierney’s village are sent away to a secret destination to be rid of the “magic” that women have in order to allow them to successfully step into their roles as wives. Of course a shrewd reader will know from the beginning that “ridding the girls of magic” really translates to breaking their spirits to form obedient wives. As you might imagine, The Grace Year (which is shrouded in mystery because it is protected by a Fight Club level rule of secrecy) is not fun. It is designed to break the girls down in unimaginable ways.

So, what would it look like? If Kim Liggett wrote it, it would look a lot like a masterpiece and no, I don’t think I’m overselling this. The book was hauntingly written in a lyrical, almost hypnotic style, but still managed to keep the tension physical and thick. I could not stop reading this book. First and foremost, this is the story of women and how we are taught from birth to see each other as competition. It is about our internalized misogyny. But it’s also about the way that can and will change if people continue to make changes when they can. Even the “villain” was well developed and deserving of sympathy. I fell in love with these girls and their pain, but man, Tierney. I was obsessed with Tierney and her story: she was strong and brave, but also beaten down by life. She was flawed: as her mother says early in the novel, “[her] eyes are wide open, but [she] see[s] nothing.” It is her experience that creates a deep inability to trust that at times really blurs her ability to see truth.

Small spoiler alert: there’s a love story here and it’s really, really lovely. Normally I hate love stories in this kind of book. Like, you’re dirty and starving and maybe gonna die, but why not take some time to get all swoony? This is not that. It felt authentic and natural, yes, but it also gave the first glimpse of hope in a novel that was readable bleak.

I know it’s only February and this is slightly premature, but this is for sure on the short list for my absolute favorite book of the year. It has been months since I’ve read anything that hit me this physically, this stayed with me this long, that affected me so profoundly. I truly loved this book.

5:/5: Must Read.

https://bibwithblog.blogspot.com/2019/02/best-read-of-year-review-of-grace-year.html?m=1

I was pleasantly surprised by this book and its fierce feminism. The Grace Year takes place in a misogynistic world where men will go to any length to keep women down and deny them power. The setting and character growth in this novel were really well put together and watching women band together to survive gave me all the feels. It was nice to see a fresh take on this genre and I look forward to more books by this author.